Destiny Wings
by TwilightloveandFaximumRide
Summary: She escaped from the school. So did the Flock. Did they know about each other? Not a chance. So then why does she punch Iggy in the nose in, yes, recognition when they finally meet? Plenty of my-characters-name-plus-Fang. REVIEW! I'S ALL I WANT FROM LIFE
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I flew in a circle, my face reflecting from hundreds of different angles off the mirrored walls of the buildings.

The clock tower off to the east chimed three times. 3 am. I was free now; there was no one to take my picture or do something annoying like point up in the sky and shout _OHMYGOD she's flying, call 911 before her wings give out and she DIES! And make sure to take lots of pictures because you're retarded and have no respect for-_okay, so maybe they don't say that last part but...

I brushed a loose lock of thick black hair out of my face as I landed, touching my toes gracefully down on the roof of a building. Then I popped up my dark hood, further hiding myself from view as I settled down for the night. Only then did I notice I wasn't alone.

"No," I whispered, shaking my head. They'd found me. Not that they hadn't found me before but… this was my home. I thought I'd hidden myself so well.

I forced myself to prepare for a fight, even if there was really no hope. If they knew I was here, which, obviously, they did, they would have already sent out a signal.

"She's afraid," said a tiny, girlish voice from the shadows.

Were they making erasers that young now? I glared. Stupid school. Stupid Samantha. Stupid-

"We're not Erasers," the girl said.

I had to roll my eyes at that. What, was she new? It wasn't like I hadn't heard that one about a million different times before. But at least she hadn't said something like '_Don't_ _worry'_, or '_We won't hurt you'_. That always really annoyed me.

"I know it annoys you, but we're really not that bad," she said.

My eyes widened, but only momentarily.

"Can we please just get this over with?" I sighed.

"Angel, tell her we're running form the school, too, " a new voice said, this one also feminine but more expectant and hopeful.

"It's true," the young one, Angel said," we're human-avian, too."

I wanted so badly to believe them. But they were _not_ catching me again. I wasn't going back to that place.

"Come out, then," I snickered, getting ready.

"All right," Angel murmured, coming out and unfurling… _wings_.

I gasped, staggering back. This wasn't happening.

"I'm Nudge. This is our Flock," the other girl who had spoken earlier said, stepping into the dim light. Four more children came out next to her.

"Oh my-" I paused looking at them, "Wait. I know you." I cocked my head to one side, my hood falling back. I gasped in recognition, and punched the nearest person in the nose.


	2. Chapter 2

The tall, dark one had me instantly in a steel (or iron, whichever is harder) grip. I looked up to glare at Angel. For the first time in a long time, I had let myself trust someone, and what had happened?

"You tried to kill me!" I yelled. The boy I hit was staring at me, confused and surprised.

"Angel…?" the little blond kid looked confused, glancing between she and I fearfully.

"It was the clones, she thinks it was us," Angel said calmly. The tall dark boy was crushing my arm.

"Let _go_!" I said, annoyed. He eyed me emotionlessly. I could have easily broken his grip, but I didn't want them to know how strong I was.

"Don't hit Iggy, okay?" Angel said. She paused, "She won't, Fang."

Angel was right. I probably wouldn't hurt them until they actually did something. I looked at her, intrigued. _You read minds? _I thought unhappily. Angel nodded, grinning. I was shocked to hear _her_ voice in _my_ head. _That's Fang. And this is The Gasman, Nudge, and Iggy. We're a family._

Odd names. Then again, so was mine. _You tried to kill me_, I remembered. Angel shook her head. _We didn't do that. The School made clones of us and switched places. That wasn't a fun experience._

I realized, startled, that I actually believed her. Still, I wasn't about to trust them.

"Angel?" Fang asked.

"She understands," nodded Angel.

The boy let go of my arms.

"Let's go, they're bound to find us eventually," said the guy I'd punched, the one Angel had pointed out as Iggy, "Come on - what's your name?" he turned to me.

I half-smiled, bumping shoulders as I took a running start past him and jumped into the night.

I hovered there for a second.

"Artemis, like the goddess. The goddess of hunting."

The boy Angel had called Fang streaked off the roof first, Iggy no less than two seconds behind.

"Angel, stop her!" yelled Gazzy. I rolled my eyes. As if.

_Stop, Artemis. Please, or I'll have to make you. _Angel said in my head.

My eyes narrowed as I swerved to my left. _You know what? I don't think you will._ I thought, and closed my eyes. I forced myself to remember tons of horrible crap from back at the school, all of the pain and torture…

"Ow!" Angel exclaimed, one hand pressed to her forehead. I felt a twinge of guilt at hurting her, but the rest of the Flock effectively stopped and turned back, giving me an excellent opening to escape.

"Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, I want you to keep following her," Fang called.

I wasn't about to give them that chance, and I didn't want to reveal anything about myself if I didn't have to. So far, all they knew was that I had wings, and my name, which wasn't a big deal because it wasn't the one on my credit card. (Emergencies only.) Don't get me wrong: it was my real name, but - you know what, never mind.

"Just stop!" groaned Gazzy.

But it was Iggy who made the first try.

He sped up so that he was at the head of the group and chucked something at my foot. A long rope with a ball at the end wrapped around my ankle. Iggy pulled on the other end, but I pulled back with my foot as suddenly as I could. What I didn't anticipate was the weight on the other end. I began to plummet, and, with a sigh, I reached into my backpack. Yeah, it was in my hand. I pulled out an arrow tip, hoping that they wouldn't see it and guess that I had whole arrows in there, too.

Quickly, I sawed the bit of rope holding the weight – Iggy's pack full of bricks or something – off, but instead of letting it drop I grabbed it in my other hand and opened it.

It was a dog.


	3. Chapter 3

I tried not to let that distract me.

"QUIT ALMOST DROPPING-" the dog stopped midsentence when it saw who was holding the bag.

"Hey," I said, amused.

"WhothebiscuitareyouohmygodputmedownAngelwhereareyousaveme-"

"Shut _up_!" I said quickly, "I'm going to give you back. What's-his-name, Iggy, just threw you at me."

"Total!" I heard Angel's high-pitched shriek. I swerved and turned back, floating at eye level with Angel.

"Here. Uh, Iggy threw him at me…" the Flock was staring at me. "What?"

"You came back?" Angel said smugly.

"She came back," said Iggy, happy.

"Artemis came-"

"Yeah, yeah, I came back, okay? God, " said, handing the dog carefully to Angel. I scratched under his chin and let go.

"Uh… yeah…so… bye," I said, spinning around. Iggy flew up in front of me, cutting off my path.

"Why leave?" He asked, exasperated.

"I - it's none of your business," I answered quickly.

"Angel-"

"No. Stay _out_ of my head. I'm leaving now," I said flatly, brushing past Iggy. The same annoying lock of hair swept across his cheek. I caught it between two fingers in a flash, just as it touched his face.

"Sorry," I said, and flew out as abruptly as possible. _Bye, _I heard.

This time, they let me go.

I landed in a big tree (it's not like I went to a _real_ school, how am I supposed to know the names) and opened my bag. I pulled out what they didn't see.

My silver bow and arrows, clothes, and notebook were all spread out across the branch. When I say clothes, I mean two pears of jeans – one of them cutoffs -, some socks, some underwear, and three t-shirts.

I opened the notebook and looked inside. A single tear leaked out of the corner of my eye. Quickly, before I could forget, I wrote down: Fang, Gazzy, Nudge, Total, Iggy, and Angel.

I shook myself. Why was I doing this? Now I felt insane. They'd done nothing for me, just driven me out of my home. I wished I could explain it to them, tell them that their memory wasn't safe, that Itex was always waiting, somewhere…

But life wasn't that simple, and they seemed…happy.

I pulled the little gold locket out of my shirt, toying with it between two fingers.

"TOTAL!" shouted Gazzy from over me. I threw a hostile glare into the air above. So they had followed me. But instead of five mutant bird kids staring down at me, I saw a backpack.

"Oh come _on_," I groaned. That's when I realized no one was going to save it, and I was too far away to reach it in time. Without thinking, I whipped up my bow and an arrow and shot at the backpack. The arrow nailed it into a tree by the strap. I heard Total screaming at the top of his little lungs.

I leapt off the branch, my wings blowing out behind me, and flew up to the tree.

"Are you alright?" I asked, opening the bag.

"It's you! You saved my life," he sobbed.

"Twice," I added, looking around. Where was the Flock?

"Come on, let's get you back to your family…" I said, flapping up until I was out of the shade of the trees. They weren't in the air. I circled around the forest until I spotted it. A gleam of blond hair. I nosedived toward them, Total under one arm. As I got closer, I realized what I was seeing.

"What happened?" I gasped, landing next to Iggy, where he was kneeling next to Angel doing CPR.

"I don't know!" he almost yelled. I retracted my wings quickly and looked around. Gazzy was crouching under a tree, his head in his hands.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, becoming frantic.

"They're gone! Nudge and Fang, they just disappeared!" the Gasman wailed. Something in my chest tightened.

"Angel!" Gazzy gasped on relief as Angels eyelids fluttered open.

"Arte…mis," she whispered. We ran over.

"Angel, I'm right here."

"Artemis, "Angel sat up, more alert. _You're alive, _she thought to me in wonder. _Me? You're the one who just went nuts on us! What happened? _I asked, insane with relief. She looked at me, uncertain.

_I… I think I just had a vision._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"A _vision_?" Iggy and I said at the same time. He looked from met, to Angel, and back, seeming to realize Angel had been sharing these thoughts with me, too.

"Of me _dying_?" I added. Angel nodded.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, looking around Iggy and across the clearing.

"I'm going to find out," I said, unfurling my wings again.

"Wait!" Total panted, scampering over to my feet. At first I thought he was going to pee on my Nikes.

"I can smell something. It might be Nudge, but it's really faint," he said quickly.

"Lead the way, alpha dog," I nodded, gesturing out to the woods. Total began sniffing his way around. I flew overhead, incase my enhanced abilities let me see something the dog couldn't.

"There!" he barked proudly, darting further in. I followed until suddenly the woods broke and there was just a huge expanse of rock.

"Nudge!" I yelled. I could just see the top of the back of her head over a boulder.

I jogged over and knelt down so I cold look at her.

"Ah, crap," I muttered as her head rolled to one side limply.

She had a faint pulse and I could still hear her thrumming bird-kid heartbeat. I sighed and lifted her up, carrying her back to where Total waited nervously at the edge of the woods.

"I'm going to take her back and then go look for Fang," I said, looking around. He nodded and sniffed. I followed Total's nose back to where Iggy was waiting and set Nudge down in a pile of leaves so that Iggy could 'take a look' at her, or medically inspect her or whatever.

"Oh, god," he muttered, brushing his fingers down Nudge's arms, legs, and ribs.

"What?" I asked.

"I think her wing has a break in it," he replied," and her collar bone has a fracture but if Fang can re-break it, it'll be healed in a day or two…" he trailed off, remembering that Fang wasn't here.

"I'll go find him," I stood, looking around. A few of my feathers slapped him in the face. He held up his hand and started to brush them away, and froze.

"They're black, with white tips," he murmured, stroking a finger down one of my feathers.

"Uh, yeah, so?" I started backing away.

"Artemis, I'm _blind_. But… I can see your feathers," he said in wonder. Gazzy stood up and immediately started jumping up and down.

"Let me try, let me try!" he exclaimed, his wings sprouting out. Iggy reached out and put a hand on Gazzy's left wing. He shook his head.

"Sorry," he shrugged. I turned and down stroked twice before I took off.

"Faaaa-aaaang," I called, circling the biggest expanse of woods I could cover.

At that moment, I felt something cold clamp down on my shoulder from behind me. I spun around, about to kill them, and realized who it was.

"Oh, it's you," I said, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah. Where's the Flock?" he asked.

"I'm fine, thanks," I rolled my eyes, twirling toward the ground. Fang landed beside me.

"Fang. Can you come re-break nudge's collarbone?" Iggy asked, looking straight at him. Fang nodded and walked over. Angel looked away as he set her bone correctly. Fang turned and I caught a glimpse of his back.

"Oh, Jesus, what'd you _do_?" I asked, staring at the huge bloody gash across the back of his shirt. I'd missed it earlier because his wings were out and covering it

"Never mind," I shook my head. I hated seeing huge amounts of blood, "Just take your shirt off so I can clean it out."

"Wait, what?" Iggy asked, looking around. I almost laughed.

"If you want, you can take yours off too, Iggy, but I wouldn't recommend it," I rolled my eyes.

"I will if you will," he grinned.

Cocky little pervert.

"Fang," I said impatiently, turning. He stood there, shirtless, staring off into the trees.

"Turn around," I ordered. He shrugged, turning to face the woods. I ran one finger down the side of the cut.

"Wait," I said, streaking into the woods and back in a flash, a little bag of medicine and stuff in one hand.

"This could sting," I muttered, puling out a little bottle and squeezing it over the cut. A drop of bluish liquid dripped in. Disinfectant. "You lost a _lot_ of blood. What happened?"

Fang glanced over his shoulder.

"Is it your problem?" he asked flatly. I shook my head, clearing up my thoughts. He was right. This was so not my problem. I would leave as soon as I knew everyone was okay. _Why? Why do you care if they're okay? _I asked myself, annoyed.

"Put it back on," I said throwing him his black t-shirt.

He didn't say anything as he took his time shrugging into his shirt and turned around.

"Don't go," Angel said suddenly. I turned to face her.

"What?"

"Don't leave. You're the first…well, second other bird-kid we've found who escaped."

"The _second_?" I asked.

"Well there was this one girl, and we met her when we were in the-"

"I'll tell you later," Angel cut Nudge off, "But only if you stay."

I groaned.

"Lets put it to a vote, "Iggy said suddenly, "Does anyone think Artemis _shouldn't_ stay?"

"Artemis does," Fang said.

"Only Angel has the right to tell me what I think," I retorted. Not that he wasn't right.

_Sleep, _Angel said in my head. Wait, what? Before I could react, I was collapsing onto the dewy grass.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry, this chapter is mostly Dialogue, but read it anyway, and if you read it, review it, I don't really care what you say. Just tell me if it was good or not.

So... yeah, I'll let you read now.

------

Chapter 5

My eyes fluttered open. I looked around and was instantly alert. "She's awake," muttered Angel, staring down at her bracelet.

Fang looked up from the tree he was leaning against. It looked like he'd been sleeping. He stood and walked over, not actually making any noise.

_I'm sorry… are… are you okay? _She looked up at me anxiously. I glanced at Angel. _You realize I'm just doing to leave, don't you? _I thought bitterly. _NO! _She shouted in my mind. The force of her thoughts was so powerful it knocked the breath out of me.

"When did you escape from the school?" asked Nudge suddenly, staring intently at my face. It was

"December fourteenth, 2006," I answered automatically. She tilted her head to one side.

"That was before we had the massive breakout, wasn't it? Because I think it's like 2009-ish now and that was three years ago," Nudge looked questioningly at Fang. He nodded.

"How did you escape?" asked Gazzy. I sighed. The sooner this ended, the better.

"Back at the school there was one scientist, a woman named Samantha, and as I got older she grew more and more attached to me. The school either didn't notice or didn't care because they sent her in one day to give me food, and she knew that it was my birthday, so she brought me a flower. Just one. But I kept it, because it was the first thing anyone had ever done for me," I smiled at the memory.

"I put it in the back of my crate, where no one would see it, and left it there. A year later on that day, the flower, a lilac, I think, was still alive and perfectly healthy. Samantha came with my lunch and, like every year, had put a slice of lemon in my water for my birthday. I reached into the back of my cage and took out the flower. She stared at it like she was really confused and then her eyes widened and she unlocked the crate to let me out. I stood in front of her and saw that the window was open. I was twelve, and I knew that this might be my only chance to escape. So I grabbed the lemon and squirted it in her eyes, and took off," I shrugged.

The Gasman stared at me. So did pretty much the rest of the Flock, except Fang.

"Why did you squirt her in the eyes? Wouldn't she have just let you leave if she really liked you?" asked Total finally.

"I actually think she might have, but I needed to do something so that it wouldn't look like she did. Who knows what the School does to traitors," I said. Angel nodded, shuddering.

"Did you guys ever meet that group of people at the School with Ephebiphobia?" I asked, grinning despite myself.

"Ephebi-what?" asked Nudge.

"The fear of teenagers," I laughed.

"Dorks," snorted Gazzy. I nodded.

"Did…did you know Jeb?" asked Angel quietly.

"Yeah, the man with the son… why are you looking at me like that?" I asked hesitantly. Nudge sniffled.

"He broke us out of that place, and a while later he disappeared. We all thought he was dead, but it turned out he'd gone back," Fang said. I caught just the smallest flicker of regret in his voice.

"Why?" I asked suddenly, looking up.

"What?" Iggy asked.

"Why did he go back?" I leaned forward.

"Ummm, we don't know. He just kind of…disappeared one day," Nudge answered curiously," Why?"

"How old were you?" I asked.

"Fang was about thirteen, I was-" Nudge started.

"He was one of them," I whispered.

"One of what? Who? I'm confused!" wailed Gazzy.

"He had it. Ephebiphobia," I said quietly.

There was a silence.

"He's so dead. Why didn't he just tell us? I mean we would have understood, right? It would be better than thinking he was gone!" Nudge burst out, and then started sobbing.

"I know, sweetie, I know," I whispered. Nudge lifter her face quickly, wet droplets flicking onto my jacket.

"What did you call me?" she didn't sound pissed off, she sounded… worn out.

"Um, sweetie," I said.

"That's what-what Max called me," Nudge said softly, "Remember Angel?"

At first I thought Max was a guy. I saw Fangs face, and for a split second, it was absolutely full of pain. And then it was gone.

I wanted to ask them who he or she was, but they seemed absorbed in memories.

"Max was our leader." Angel answered my thought, and her voice was full of the hurt sadness of the six-year-old inside her.

"She loved us, all of us," Gazzy said.

_Angel? What… what happened?_ I asked, afraid to speak out loud.

"C-can you tell her?" Angel sniffled, looking at Fang. He nodded.

"A few months before, she found out she had a mom, and a half-sister. We all went to stay there; her mom was really cool about the wings and everything. One day, she stays home sick, and when we come back from school – normal school – she's gone. They got her. We looked around for her for six months, until a letter came in the mail. No return address. It said that Max had expired."

I gaped at him, about to say something, when Fang held up one hand.

"For some reason, we all believed it. Three months after the letter had come, and we'd given up, another letter came. This one said that we had failed the test and Max had actually not expired. It also stated that she thought we had given up on her. We couldn't blame her; it had been nine months. So we flew around, and somewhere along the way we realized that they had sent it to Max's mom's house. Which meant they knew where she lived. We turned around and went back for her but we were too late. They took her mom, and her sister."

Iggy flinched at that.

"So…why are you here?" I asked finally, gesturing to the forest around us," There's no Itex in this city. That's why I live -lived- here."

That was why I loved Seattle-it was constantly rainy three and a half seasons out of four, had no Itex, lots of forest, and plenty of city. And why did I love the rain? You'll find out.

"We just took off from Idaho," Fang said," we're going to check the one in California."

And Iggy didn't even make a 'Udaho' joke. (Get it? You the- never mind.)

"Well then," I stabbed myself internally," I'm coming with you."

I put my chin up and crossed my arms stubbornly, daring them (okay, primarily Fang), to tell me otherwise.

"Yay!" squealed Angel, wrapping her thin arms around my waist. Hesitantly, I uncrossed my arms and hugged her back.

"We'd better get moving…" Iggy trailed off as Nudge and Gazzy stood up to hug me, too. Slowly, they peeled back.

"Let's go," Fang nodded.

Nudge took two steps forward and stopped uncurling her wings halfway.

"Ow," she winced.

"Here," I muttered, throwing her a teeny vial.

"What is it?" she asked, inspecting the bottle.

"Morphine," I answered, reaching for a syringe.

"How did you get this?" Fang asked suspiciously.

"I stole it," I said simply. I injected Nudge with the little sample of morphine and lifted off the ground," Ready?"

I held out my hand, and she accepted it, pulling herself off the grass.

"I feel better alllrready," her voice slurred slightly.

"Side effect," I said before Fang could ask. We took off flying south -now I feel like a goose- toward California.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, okay, so... you peeps seem to feel Artemis is like Max.**

**The funny thing is I just sort of incorporated myself into Artemis.**

**And, Kay? From the reviews? I don't think I did delete your other comment...**

**Anyway, let's clear up that Angel was _not_ hooking them up, like I said, she's a clueless six-year-old, and Fang hates Artemis. She just didn't want Artemis sleeping on the couch. There shall be mucho Fax, once Max is found. If she's found...**

**Also, I fixed her a bit so she's different: she doesn't like Nudge, she's not the best at handling kids, and she prefers being alone. Or does she... Yeah anywayz if ya like Faxness read _The name of the game is Fax_. I'll let you read now.**

Chapter 6

"I think I see something," yawned Nudge, pointing at a tall, expensive-looking silver building below us.

"I'll get closer and see if I can pick up any _Destroy the World_ thoughts," sighed Angel, diving toward the roof. She circled it for a few seconds and then looked up tiredly.

"Nothing," she said. She was probably pretty worn out by now; this was building number twenty-five.

"I think we should settle down," Fang said.

"I have to pee," Gazzy announced in agreement.

"Thanks for sharing," I rolled my eyes.

"Lets go there. Can we, can we? Pleeeeeease?" Nudge pleaded, pointing at the two golden arches down the block.

"Yeah, sure," Fang shrugged," I'll take Angel and check in to that hotel. Regroup on the roof."

"I can buy the food," I said quietly. He considered.

"Go ahead. See you," he answered, and took off. I still had the feeling he didn't like me.

"Ready?" I looked at the Flock behind me.

"Yeah, sure," Gazzy said in a perfect imitation of Fang's voice. I couldn't help laughing as we made our way to the 24-hour McDonald. It was one of those huge ones, with the indoor playground.

"Can I-" yawn- "play on the park?" he added hopefully.

"You know what, that's for Fang to decide, not me," I answered.

We landed next to a dumpster behind the building.

"Nudge, Iggy, stay here, Gazzy, come on," I said, leading him around through the double doors.

"Hey," I said briskly, looking at the menu," can we have, like, nineteen happy meals and six large McFlurrys? My brother's having a birthday party."

The sleepy teenager behind the counter looked at me for a moment. Okay, the Gasman and I did look seriously unrelated-he was blond and rumpled, my hair was straight and deep black-, but he probably didn't get a whole ton of business, so he shrugged.

"Whatever," he muttered, typing into the register," that'll be –"

I handed him a credit card. He shrugged again and scanned it. We seriously had to get out of here; I couldn't stand kids with extreme acne problems.

Five minutes later, I carried out two plastic bags full of junk Food. Gazzy brought the drinks. Nudge's eyes widened.

"There's eighteen, so we can each have three, and then one for Total," I looked at her. She nodded mutely. I rolled my eyes and took off toward the hotel.

"I got us the room on the very top floor, it's the biggest," Angel said proudly. I raised one eyebrow at Fang but said nothing. It was his problem whether or not his Flock paid, or, *coughcough*, didn't pay, for a 300+ dollar hotel room.

We took the stairs, because none of them were comfortable with elevators, to the top floor.

"Oh my god, I love LA," gasped Nudge after she swiped the keycard. The suite was absolutely huge, with three bedrooms and a giant living room with a flat screen and a mini fridge on either side. I walked into one bedroom, where there was a pair of twin beds. In the one next door it was the same, and then a queen sized one.

"Gazzy, Iggy, take this one," Fang said pointing at the first bedroom.

"Can I share with Artemis? But then Angel would be with Fang. I mean I guess that's okay. But-"

"_Nudge_," I groaned, "I'll sleep on the couch, you and Angel can share, and Fang can have his own room with the double bed."

I was feeling pretty special having figured this out on my own.

"I'll be on the couch, too," added Total. I shrugged-lets just say I'm a dog person.

"But _Artemiiiiiiiiiiiiis_," whined Nudge," You can't sleep on the couch. I mean, we have a bed, and you aren't going to like eat anyone in their sleep, I mean I hope not. So you're just going to have to sleep in one room."

She crossed her arms firmly and stalked into her room. Angel followed curiously, with Total trotting behind her, in her sweet-little-clueless-six-year-old manner.

I shot Fang a look and flopped down on the couch.

_Sleep in one of the twin beds,_ Angel commanded. I was going to tear her limb from limb. Okay, maybe not. But still.

My legs carried me off the couch and into the room. Fang seemed to be experiencing the same thing as he walked into the room and sat down on his , Jesus, this was going to be an awkward night.

**Okay I feel like I should end it here but this chapter is too short so I shall continue. Proceeding with the perverted thoughts. (Kidding!)**

"I am going to eat that little girl for breakfast," I muttered under my breath as I slipped under the covers.

I couldn't help the heavenly sigh- I usually slept on the roofs of buildings, or in trees; give a girl some credit.

I curled up facing the wall on the right. I heard Fang's blankets rustle as he stood and the door creak open and closed, heard the mini fridge light go on as he got a juice her something. I waited for the door to scrape closed again to roll on to my other side. I opened my mouth to say something when I looked at him. Oh, my god, he was_ in his boxers. _

I immediately closed my eyes and made my breathing even.

Miss calm, cool, and casual, that's me. Nope, zero awkwardness, having known him for like two days. **(I know some people are going to beat me with metal spoons for throwing in that Max-like thought, but please don't hate me!)**

I lied back down and eventually fell back asleep, dreaming about muscular dark-haired guys walking around in black boxers. Did I just think that? Oh, my god, Fang was seriously getting to me, and I didn't even _like_ him. What the hell?

When I finally woke up, the clock on the dresser informed me that it was six am. I got up and realized that I had gone to bed in my jacket. I dumped it off and switched into a dark blue tank top and white short-shorts I found in one of the dressers. The only other thing in there was a white Abercrombie jacket-shudder-, so it would have to do for now. I opened the fridge, running my fingers through my hair.

"Umm," I muttered, grabbing a granola bar and a mini carton of milk from the huuuuuuuge selection. I slipped silently back in, and turned to crack the door closed without a sound. When I turned back, guess who was standing right in my face?

"Morning," I muttered, sidestepping him and sitting on the edge of my bed. I wolfed down the granola bar like the lady my parents raised me as-wait, what parents! - and finished the milk in one.

"I'm waking up the others," I mumbled, slumping my way into Nudge and Angel's room.

"Wake up girls. Breakfast time." Those were the magic words. Angel rolled over and yawned, making her look three times smaller than she actually was, which is saying something. Nudge swung her legs over her side animatedly and grinned at me.

"You are _not_ forgiven," I informed her. Her forehead creased slightly, and then it cleared. I didn't know how they put up with her, I was ready to throw the couch across the room.

"All right, but we're staying here. I love this place, it's so big, and there are _three_ _bedrooms_! I mean it's been so long since I had a bedroom…" she trailed off.

"I've never had a bedroom, 'cept for my crate at the school," I said cheerfully, hiding my pain. Nudge's frown returned. I walked out of their room and sat down on the plushy recliner.

Iggy slouched out of the bedroom, rubbing his unseeing eyes. God, the guy was over six foot.

"Do I have to make breakfast?" he muttered sleepily.

"But isn't there room service?" asked Nudge," 'Cause I would totally love some ham right now. Mmm, California ham, I wonder what it tastes like. I like Canadian bacon. So, if you had to choose-"

"Yes, there's room service," Angel cut her off in her tiny voice, holding up a packet of papers," I found this under the lamp."

She rubbed her eyes sleepily and handed them to Fang.

"Found what?" asked Iggy, annoyed. Gazzy explained what was in the packet to him as Fang leafed through and found a number for breakfast service.

Everyone ordered what they wanted on speakerphone and then Fang hung up in the middle of the girl's cheery _'Have a nice day.'_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"I _don't_ like California ham!" exclaimed Nudge, choking and spitting out a little pinkish lump. Eww.

"Well," Gazzy said with his mouth full," I love it."

I rolled my eyes, picking at my toast.

"So, it looks like the Itex building should be right around here," Fang said, holding out a map. I looked at it. He was circling a wide expanse of LA with his finger, where none of the buildings were labeled. I nodded.

"Is everyone done eating?" I asked, standing and half unfurling my wings comfortably.

"I'm never done eating," sighed Gazzy," But yes."

I rolled my eyes and walked over to the computer. I selected Google Earth and found the address on the map near where Fang thought Itex was.

"Does…this look like an Itex building?" I asked. Angel shook her head, even though her back was turned away from me. She must have seen it in y mind. I scrolled through a bunch more zip codes.

"How about this one?"

"Nope."

"This?"

"No."

"What about… this one?"

"I-" Fang stopped, and they all looked at me. Nudge hurried over and put her hand on the corner of the screen.

"I can remember the address," she said, pulling it off. Ooookay then, she had, like, uber perfect memory.

"Let's go," I muttered, grabbing my bag and folding in my wings.

Iggy glanced -blindly- at Angel in alarm for a moment and then relaxed. They followed me to the lobby, where I got an extra keycard for everyone. Then came the problem.

"This place is, like, totally populated. How are we supposed to fly? Are we walking?" asked Nudge. I sighed.

"We're taking the bus. Come on," Fang said. I looked up in surprise; I'd been thinking the exact same thing.

Angel.

She was probably just screwing with me.

Fang led the way to the bus stop, where six hobos, two hookers, an Asian dude with a laptop, a group of teenage girls and their boyfriends, and a pregnant woman with two kids holding her hands were sitting-and, in two of the hobos cases, sleeping.

Fang glanced around, his eyes pausing on the hookers. Iggy reached out and grabbed his arm in a flash.

"Two hookers, six homeless guys, a laptop dude, teenagers, two kids and a pregnant mom," Fang said.

"And soon, six homeless bird-kids," Nudge added.

"Hookers?" asked Gazzy. I shook my head with a Fang-will-tell-you-when-you're-older expression.

"Hookers," Iggy repeated, but in a… different voice. Sexist-

_Don't think pig_, begged Angel in a small voice in my head. _Why? _ I thought in surprise. _Max __always_ _thought that. You two are so alike, _she told me, sniffling. How random was that?

"We are now boarding," and electronic female voice said as the bus doors slid open. We shuffled in with the pack of teens, melting into their group unnoticed. They kept chatting and talking on cell phones, totally ignoring us as they paid. A wallet slid to the ground. I bent over and picked it up. I know what you're thinking, but I'm not _that_ needy. I pulled out a handful of quarters and slid it back into the guy's pocket.

The bus driver held out his arm in front of Angel, who was last, cutting her off. I froze.

"Are you under seven?" he asked. She nodded angelically.

"Six and a half," she said sweetly.

"No charge, go ahead," he pulled his arm back. But I caught a flicker of green under the hat that was setting a shadow across his face. Can you say suspicious? I looked around.

There it was. The sign that clearly stated _No charge for children under five years._ Five, not seven. Just as I realized this, the doors slid closed.

Well, shit.


End file.
